DIY Victorian-Style Pressed Flower Tea Tray

During Victorian times, floral motifs were quite popular and often were the themes for an entire room’s worth of furniture, decor and accessories. Victorians would collect flowers and leaves, press them between pages of a book and then use them to make gifts for friends, family and lovers. Many items could be embellished with pressed flowers including jewelry, paper products, and small dishware.

This project is made using modern materials, but the end result is a lovely gift for someone else or yourself that emulates the feel of the Victorian period and preserves the flowers that you love. And you can get a lot of practical use from the pressed flower tea tray once it has dried completely.

Pressing Flowers

Before you start this project, you need to have a collection of pressed flowers. You may already know how to press flowers, but if you don’t have the correct tools, there are several available on Amazon that give you the instructions on the best way to press them. These 3 presses below can give you the pressed flowers you need for this and other nature projects.

Materials and Supplies

Once you have collected enough pressed flowers, you are ready to make the tray with them. Here are the supplies you need for this project.

Epoxy resin

Clear mixing cup

2 oz. cups for measuring

White non-porous tray

Pressed flowers

Small glue dots

Wooden mixing stick

You can find all of these items at your local craft store or on the new Etsy site, Etsy Studio. Etsy Studio is a site for people who like to make simple to advanced crafts for gifts or for fun. There is a list of projects on the brand new site along with supplies to make them.

Instructions

Once you have laid out the supplies on your workspace, you are ready to begin making the tea tray. Work with the flowers gently to arrange them in a pleasing design. If you wish, you can draw out the design on paper before you start. To complete the project, follow the rest of the instructions on Etsy Studio here.

This is beautiful. I’m actually in the process of making a DIY flower press so I’m excited to try something like this when I finally get it done. My challenge at the time is that my drill doesn’t charge anymore and I need to get a new one. Love this!